Design Foundations
Elements | principles | examples
The lecture deck for the first class: the elements and principles of design, with good and cautionary examples from real brands.
Lecture decks
Color Magic
Color theory | psychology | accessibility
Hue, saturation and value, harmony schemes, what color psychology can and cannot prove, brand color systems, contrast, and RGB versus CMYK.
Type Talk
Anatomy | classification | pairing
Letterform anatomy, how typefaces are classified, pairing fonts, case studies from Helvetica to Comic Sans, and type accessibility.
Layout and Composition
Grids | alignment | hierarchy
Grid anatomy and grid families, optical alignment, the myths around the golden ratio, how people actually scan a page, and breaking the grid on purpose.
Photoshop walkthroughs
Glow Up
Cutout | masks | gradients | type
Build a fictional band poster or album cover from one photo: cut out the subject, light it with a glow, add a headline and build a reflection.
Mood Swing
Color grading | adjustments
One photograph, three grades side by side: warm and inviting, cool and corporate, and high contrast editorial.
Echo
Layer masks | painting on masks | blending
Blend a hero photo and a second moment into one poster with a hand-painted layer mask and no seam.
Larger Than Life
Select Subject | cast shadow | rim light
Place an object or animal the size of a building into a real scene, then make it believable with scale, shadows, light and one grade.
Game Day
Smart Objects | cutouts | layer effects | type
A layered sports or concert poster: a streaked color wash, three cutouts at three sizes, and giant type behind the subjects.
Illustrator walkthroughs
Midnight Munchies
Shapes | selection | layers
Illustrator foundations. Build four late-night snack icons from basic shapes and one shared seven-color palette.
Pin Club
Pathfinder | Shape Builder | Offset Path
Cut and combine shapes to make enamel pins for made-up campus clubs, with borders and rounded corners.
Tattoo Flash
Pen | Curvature | path tools
Trace a dashed starter outline with the Pen and path tools to build a three-symbol flash sheet.
Trick or Trace
Image Trace | global swatches | gradients
Turn a pumpkin photo into a vector stencil, then light the scene with gradients and blend modes in two colorways.
Sticker Slap
Type | Appearance panel | Graphic Styles | Expand Appearance
Build die-cut Halloween slogan stickers from one saved style, curve one on a path, then expand a copy and crack it with the Knife.
Work in progress
Merch Table
3D and Materials | mapped graphics
Wrap supplied sticker art around a 3D mug, render it and export a product mockup. A pennant is the bonus.
Coming soon
Work in progress
Crack Open a Brand
Capstone | label design | 3D can
The capstone. Invent a drink brand and mascot, design a flat label, wrap it on a 3D can and export social-ready mockups.
Coming soon
Using the files. Download the student zip for a walkthrough, open the starter file and follow the walkthrough. Illustrator palette files (.ase) load through the Swatch Libraries menu. Shortcuts are written Windows / Mac.